Somebody with a straight face actually opposed a curb cut for handicapped people? Apparently, being rich is just like being famous: Both make you more of what you already are. Apparently, having Beacon Hill wealth turns you from being kind of an (expletive) into a complete (expletive.)

I recently moved to Cambridge after living in Beacon Hill for fifteen years. It's funny how you do get into the mindset when you live there [yeah, I suppose you could say I turned into an asshole] but I remember once five years ago when they painted some granite curbs the standard "no parking" red color. And I really didn't like it. You live in a neighborhood with what six or eight standard colors for long enough, and some new color is really darn jarring. I honestly believe these folks have nothing against the differently abled... they just have had their architectural commission and color restrictions for decades and don't want to change the standards 'cause "that's the only color that's available." Don't forget Boston's the Hub, and BH is [/thinks it's] the Hub of Boston so everything has to revolve around its rules.

And ... fuck that. The Back Bay has very subtle, dark red/brick colored ones at certain spots. They provide enough contrast while complying with ADA. And if the anti-everything crowd of the Back Bay can get behind something, the twats of BH should shut up and do the same.

as VFIPs [Very Fucking Important People]. Retired hedge fund managers and corporate executives, silly yuppies, Eurotrash and wannabes, WAY too many tourist and those obnoxious trolly tours...sad, because it wasn't like that when I was a kid. I suppose it's Boston's price for becoming a 'World Class' city.

I understand they're beautifully preserved neighborhoods, and some people pay a lot to live there and buy there, but NEWSFLASH: the laws and regulations that apply to everyone else, likewise apply to you. Brick sidewalks in particular are notoriously treacherous even to non-disabled people let alone disabled. They look 'pretty' and 'quaint', [real estate agents and other bull-shitters probably refer to it as 'European Looking'], but are a PITA [Pain in the Ass] to navigate, especially in bad weather.

Around here, people object to tactile crosswalks and ramps because it makes the ride rougher for a baby in a baby carriage, who may then cry. Horrors. Never mind that such treatments better imprint the existence of a crosswalk location on drivers to save lives and aid the visually impaired, it disturbs the babies! More important to the visually impaired than rough cuts would be flashing, pedestrian activated crossing lights with chirping sound. Oops, that too would bother the residents...